Another very wet and foggy morning but the fog cleared by midday and dried up leaving it a dark but dry afternoon on a W>3 at 8 degrees.
After our usual midday outing I was pleased to get out after 5 days weather lock down so headed for Mixenden reservoir with the hopes of the fog holding something down.
First impressions were disappointing with only a few small gulls on the water but 2 male and 1 female Goosander started to raise my hopes. I then spotted a black dot in the middle of the water but being pessimistic I thought probably Tufted but worth investigating.
I didnt have to walk far on the banking before identifying it as a drake Common Scoter, a good bird for this location, things were looking up. A couple of laps of the water to get some half decent shots though distant and poor light I headed out of the grounds satisfied at my hours birding.
A last check of the water got a noisy Raven overhead going in the direction of Slaughter Gap whilst the 3 Goosander and Scoter were still present.
A double check of the Goosanders found that a small Grebe type duck was in with them but over at the far end of the water and with time and light rapidly running out I took some pics without thinking too much about it.
Back in the car I checked the photos briefly and knew I was onto something special with Slav, Black necked and Red necked grebe in mind but when I dropped the photos onto the computer I was gob smacked to see a female Smew. A photo and text to MC confirmed it could be either a female or a juv of either sex depending on the colour of its lores.
A very rare species for this area and my first for around over 40 years when they used to turn up fairly regular in winter at Knotford Nook.
Hopefully it will stay around but thats a bit of a long shot.
BS